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Touchstone Theatre

“An Imagined America”

April 9 and 10

see the program here

selections from Kathy Lauer-Williams, “Curtain Rises: Touchstone reimagines ‘America’.” Bethlehem Press, April 2, 2021.

Touchstone Theatre of Bethlehem is introducing an experimental performance that combines a drag show and art installation and will be presented in person, but socially-distanced.

“An Imagined America” will be presented between 5 and 9:30 p.m. April 9 and 1 and 9:30 p.m. April 10, Fine Art Galleries, Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center, Allentown Arts Walk, 21 N. Seventh St., Allentown.

The performance is created by Adam Ercolani of Bethlehem. Ercolani is an apprentice at Touchstone Theatre and a 2021 candidate for a master’s degree in Moravian College’s MFA program. The play was written as part of Ercolani’s thesis.

The performance takes place over 45 minutes with just five guests allowed in the gallery at a time.

According to Ercolani, the show is “bringing history to life through a re-imagination of what America is, was, and can or may be.”

The show features performances by two regionally-known drag queens, Majestee Crowne Le’Vixenn of Reading and Rogue-Star Givenchy of Allentown.

“From the get-go, I knew I wanted this project to focus on the medium of drag performance since it provides a unique way to recontextualize the historical moments we’re looking at,” Ercolani says.

“Drag performers are notorious for their ability to capture a room and really kill it with what they’re bringing to the table,” says Ercolani.

The show is a performance piece and an art installation that is a study of human bias and behavior, says Ercolani.

“It’s a dissection of American identity: the good, the bad and the ugly,” Ercolani says. “Audiences and actors alike will be left asking themselves what exactly America is and what they want America to be.”

Ercolani envisions “An Imagined America” engaging Lehigh Valley audiences in a new way, and providing them with a new lens with which to view society.

He hopes the piece will help the community “understand the challenges those unlike them face, and perceive ways in which they feed into the system of which they are inherently a part.”

Tickets for “An Imagined America” are limited and there will be staggered entrance times for only five patrons at a time. Attendees are asked to arrive 15 minutes before their slotted entrance time. Masks are required. Part of the performance will take place in the gallery and part of it will take place just outside the gallery. In the event of rain, the full event will take place indoors. Tickets are free with donations accepted.

Tickets: www.touchstone.org, 610-867-1689

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Touchstone Theatre

Thank you for your interest in Letters from Far! After selling out last week, we can now accommodate a limited amount of additional guests. Registration ends at noon on 2/10 or when tickets run out; order ASAP to avoid disappointment.

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Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

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Touchstone Theatre

Touchstone Theatre

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Touchstone Theatre

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

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Touchstone Theatre

Christmas City Follies XXI

Directed by: Jp Jordan

Performed by: the Touchstone Ensemble and friends

Premiering via YouTube watch party December 20 @7p
and available through January 2, 2021

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Christmas City Follies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2020
Contact: Lisa Jordan
610-349-8583
lisa@touchstone.org

21st Edition of Christmas City Follies Goes Online

Touchstone Theatre’s quirky holiday classic comes to YouTube

BETHLEHEM, PA – Touchstone Theatre announces Christmas City Follies XXI, the theatre’s annual holiday-themed variety show, to be presented online for 2020. Follies will premiere on YouTube on December 20, 2020 at 7pm with a watch party and then be available to view through January 2, 2021.

A favorite of Lehigh Valley residents past and present, many locals and tourists alike have come to count Christmas City Follies as part of their holiday tradition, coming out to Touchstone’s cozy black box theatre for an evening of original sketches, characters, songs, and more. The show traditionally ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, with subject matter that has included family stories, dancing hippos, snow camels, holiday yoga, and kazoo-playing Christmas trees.

In the midst of an unusual year and an unusual season, Touchstone has elected to forego an in-person performance in favor of shooting this year’s Follies as a movie; the company will continue to create and perform material for its eclectic cast of characters, filmed as scenes on Touchstone’s property and around Bethlehem, using the Christmas City as its backdrop. The show will feature returning Touchstone favorites like the Old Guy, Little Red, the Better Not Shout Network, and the Shopping Cart Ballet, as well as a host of new music, personalities, sketches, and stories.

“Santa brought us all the gift of reinvention this year with our 21^st edition of  Follies,” says artistic director Jp Jordan. “It’s exhilarating to be able to take on this work from a completely new perspective.”

The Touchstone company will also be performing an in-person “mini Follies” at outdoor holiday events across Bethlehem between Saturday, November 28th and Sunday, December 6th, featuring clownish characters delivering classic Christmas carols to shoppers. Locations include the Historic Bethlehem Museum and Sites new Christmas in the Quarter, the Sun Inn Courtyard’s Wintergarten, and the South Side Arts District’s New St. Christmas Tree.

Christmas City Follies is sponsored by Peoples Security Bank and Trust; the show receives additional support from the County of Northampton. Touchstone’s season is supported locally by season sponsor RCN. WDIY provides media sponsorship, and Working Dog Press provides print sponsorship.

Christmas City Follies XXI premieres with a watch party on December 20, 2020 at 7pm and will remain available online through January 2, 2021. Tickets are: $12 for individuals and $35 for households. Touchstone typically also offers a Pay-What-You-Will at the door ticket and instead will be offering a reduced $5 ticket for those who would benefit from a discounted admission. This year, tickets are a link that audience members will use to view the show online. Tickets go on sale November 20^th and may be purchased at 610.867.1689 or online at www.touchstone.org

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must register here

Touchstone Theatre ensemble member Mary Wright has been guiding a group of survivors and advocates in creating poetry, artwork, stories, and music.

This event is part of the Lehigh Valley Anti-Trafficking Awareness week. LVAT week is a seven-day awareness campaign. In 2019 the executives of Lehigh and Northampton counties declared the first full week of November as Lehigh Valley Anti-Trafficking Week. The campaign provides an opportunity to raise awareness of human trafficking and modern slavery, and encourage government, local authorities, companies, charities, and individuals to do what they can to address the problem.

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It’s back!

“The Hidden Seed” premiered at Touchstone Theatre’s Festival UnBound in 2019.

register here

“We mustn’t abandon the promise of unity. We mustn’t abandon the promise of the hidden seed  . . . The hidden seed is planted in every generation because those who want justice keep it alive . . . We did it . . . and now we are here to pass it on.”

Three 18th century female Bethlehem ghosts — a formerly enslaved West African woman, a Native American woman, and one of the original Moravian immigrants from Europe — agree to tell everything, the whole story of the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem not just the happy parts, without lying.

Yes, everything . . . the whole story . . . not just the happy parts . . . without lying.

“They [we in the audience] will only understand if you tell them the whole story, the whole truth.”

Like about Gnadenhutten, the Moravian Massacre.

Do you know Gnadenhutten?

96 Christian Native Americans killed at the Moravian Mission of Gnadenhutten, skulls crushed with mallets to save bullets.

This anguished cry of a distraught Native American teller cracks the smooth surface of pious Moravian history.

So, everything . . . the whole story . . . not just the happy parts . . . without lying.

Did you know there was slavery in Bethlehem?

Our rather matter-of-fact African American teller bluntly pierces the “miracle” of good treatment rationalized by the European with the hypocrisy of “You believed you could own us.”

“The seeds of our failure were sown side-by-side with our dreams.”

So much for Utopia. Maybe best that it be forgotten.

Or is the hidden seed of equality and unity still available to us?

register here

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Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

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must register here

Touchstone Theatre ensemble member Mary Wright has been guiding a group of survivors and advocates in creating poetry, artwork, stories, and music.

This event is part of the Lehigh Valley Anti-Trafficking Awareness week. LVAT week is a seven-day awareness campaign. In 2019 the executives of Lehigh and Northampton counties declared the first full week of November as Lehigh Valley Anti-Trafficking Week. The campaign provides an opportunity to raise awareness of human trafficking and modern slavery, and encourage government, local authorities, companies, charities, and individuals to do what they can to address the problem.

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

It’s back!

“The Hidden Seed” premiered at Touchstone Theatre’s Festival UnBound in 2019.

register here

“We mustn’t abandon the promise of unity. We mustn’t abandon the promise of the hidden seed  . . . The hidden seed is planted in every generation because those who want justice keep it alive . . . We did it . . . and now we are here to pass it on.”

Three 18th century female Bethlehem ghosts — a formerly enslaved West African woman, a Native American woman, and one of the original Moravian immigrants from Europe — agree to tell everything, the whole story of the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem not just the happy parts, without lying.

Yes, everything . . . the whole story . . . not just the happy parts . . . without lying.

“They [we in the audience] will only understand if you tell them the whole story, the whole truth.”

Like about Gnadenhutten, the Moravian Massacre.

Do you know Gnadenhutten?

96 Christian Native Americans killed at the Moravian Mission of Gnadenhutten, skulls crushed with mallets to save bullets.

This anguished cry of a distraught Native American teller cracks the smooth surface of pious Moravian history.

So, everything . . . the whole story . . . not just the happy parts . . . without lying.

Did you know there was slavery in Bethlehem?

Our rather matter-of-fact African American teller bluntly pierces the “miracle” of good treatment rationalized by the European with the hypocrisy of “You believed you could own us.”

“The seeds of our failure were sown side-by-side with our dreams.”

So much for Utopia. Maybe best that it be forgotten.

Or is the hidden seed of equality and unity still available to us?

register here

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS AND ARTS INSTITUTIONS

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“Touchstone Theatre is a Bethlehem Treasure”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 24, 2020
Contact: Lisa Jordan
610-349-8583
lisa@touchstone.org

Touchstone’s Festival UnBound 2020 Final Performances

Series concludes with “Tales of Hope and Resistance” and “Dictators 4 Dummies… and more!”

BETHLEHEM, PA – Touchstone Theatre will wrap up its COVID-friendly, social-distance-safe Festival UnBound 2020 with two artistic offerings— Tales of Hope and Resistance, a collection of stories from around the world, presented in music and shadow puppetry (October 9); and Dictators 4 Dummies… and more!, a retrospective of Touchstone’s musical political satires of years past and a film premiere (October 16).

After last year’s Festival UnBound, a ten-day festival of arts and community dialogue in October 2019, Touchstone decided that for 2020, the second year of the festival would take the form of outdoor events, parties, forums, and performances, available for socially distanced outdoor viewing in Touchstone’s back parking lot and many also via livestream, to accommodate the safety needs of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The festival opened with a block party for the South Side’s Latinx community, followed by a storytelling performance by local medical workers, and a series of events around nature and sustainability in our community.

The final two events of Festival UnBound 2020 feature the artists within the Touchstone company more prominently. Tales of Hope and Resistance, directed by Touchstone artistic director Jp Jordan, shares retellings of classic stories from around the world, centering on themes of overcoming evil and adversity. The evening of October 9th opens with Irish balladeer Seamus Kennedy, a longtime familiar face at Celtic Classic, regaling the audience with songs and tales of Ireland’s storied past; if Tales goes into its rain date performances (October 10th, 11th), local musical treasure and Godfrey Daniels icon Dave Fry will entertain audiences with familiar songs of revolution. The second half of the evening features shadow puppet renditions of traditional stories from Greece, Kenya, Japan, Brazil, and more. Puppets are created in collaboration with Mock Turtle Marionette Theater and performed by Touchstone and Moravian College’s current cohort of MFA in Performance Creation students. Original music backing the stories is created by Jordan and popular local musician Neil Grover.

“Mythology is such a central part of our collective histories,” says Jordan. “At transitional moments in history, like the one we are presumably living through at this very minute, it can serve us well to rediscover what we once knew.”

The final show of the festival, Dictators 4 Dummies… and more!, directed by Touchstone ensemble member Christopher Shorr, takes a look back at the original, political, satirical musicals that Touchstone has created over the last decade, performed live as a cabaret by members of the Touchstone company. The evening concludes with Shorr’s original 2018 musical Dictator 4 Dummies, now reimagined as a feature-length movie with an action figure cast.

“Something that I love about Touchstone is that it steps up during election years and deals directly with the issues of the day,” says Shorr. “For this night of musical satire, we will look at the perils of competition, the buffoonery we often see in Washington (no matter who is in charge), and the danger of complacency. As a society, we need to stay engaged and alert now more than ever. We’re trying to do our part— yes, with musical comedy— to help that effort.”

Funding for Festival UnBound is ongoing, but to date, Festival sponsors and supporters include: Air Products, CADC Bethlehem, Discover Lehigh Valley, FIG Bethlehem, Freestone Productions, Kira Willey Productions LLC, PBS39, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, PNC Bank, The Morning Call, RCN, R.K.Laros Foundation, UGI, WDIY, Webfoot Digital, and Working Dog Press.

Tales of Hope and Resistance performs Friday, October 9 (rain dates October 10 and 11) at 8p; Dictators 4 Dummies… and more! performs Friday, October 16 (rain dates October 17 and 18) at 7p. Ticketing is by table— $40 for a 4-person table, $30 for a 2-person table. Performances take place in the parking lot behind Touchstone Theatre at 321 E. 4th Street; masks and social distancing are required for all events. Access to the livestream for both events can be found on the theatre’s website. More information at touchstone.org

https://www.facebook.com/FestivalUnBound/

https://www.instagram.com/festivalunbound/

https://twitter.com/FestivalUnBound

321 E. 4th. St.

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Bethlehem — are you paying attention!! LGBTQIA+ — Is anybody doing the kinds of things Touchstone is!!

Festival UnBound — Aloud

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321 E. 4th St.

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Festival UnBound Sept 4 – Oct 16

Festival UnBound, year two, socially distanced

Touchstone opens 2020-21 season with reprise of community festival

BETHLEHEM, PA – Touchstone Theatre will begin its COVID-friendly, social-distance-safe 2020-21 season with a return to Festival UnBound, a celebration of Lehigh Valley arts and community discourse that premiered in October 2019. This year’s festival will feature weekly events running from September 4-October 16, 2020.

The first year of Festival UnBound took place twenty years after the closing of Bethlehem Steel, a massively impactful and traumatic event for the community. In the years since the closing of the Steel, Touchstone began to explore questions of community and identity in the Bethlehem community: Who were we, now that the Steel was gone? What were the challenges ahead, and what were the values that would hold the community together as we faced the task of shaping our future? Out of these questions came Festival UnBound in October 2019, a ten-day festival of arts and community dialogue around concerns of diversity, sustainability, health, youth leadership, and interconnectedness. The festival was an immense success, and many in the community expressed a desire for the festival to continue.

“What emerged from the Festival was a vision of our community as a healthy, just, and loving place, as it had never been before— one full of music and play in the service of compassion and joy,” says Touchstone Ensemble Member Bill George, who coordinated Festival UnBound in 2019. “We knew we couldn’t let go of that vision but had to keep holding it up as a light to lead us forward. And so, the Festival must live.”

In an extraordinary 2020, Touchstone will be manifesting Festival UnBound in a series of outdoor events, parties, forums, and performances. Many will be free to attend, and most will provide a livestream or digital recording to accommodate audience members who are not comfortable attending for concerns of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Planned events include:

• LATINX BLOCK PARTY – September 4, 7p – Kicking off the season with an end-of-the-summer party for our neighborhood and our neighbors – all are welcome! Join Touchstone for an evening of local food, live music by Héctor Rosado Latin Jazz Experience, and celebration of local Latinx culture and community. Cost: FREE, donation welcome. Venue: Touchstone Parking Lot (321 E. 4^th St. Bethlehem, PA 18015). Rain dates: September 5 and September 6, 7pm.
• MEDICAL WORKERS SPEAK OUT – September 12, 7p – In the last year, doctors, nurses, and healthcare professionals have come to the forefront of national attention for their work on the front lines of COVID-19. Come out and take a listen to what some of our local medical workers have to say about the experience – tales of trauma, triumph, and compassion, from the healers in our community. Cost: FREE, donation welcome. Venue: Touchstone Parking Lot (321 E. 4^th St. Bethlehem, PA 18015). Rain date: September 13, 7pm.
• RUMI/NATION – September 18-19, 6p – An original project created by Touchstone/Moravian MFA student Sean Patrick Cassidy. This site-specific audio walking tour starts on the South Bethlehem Greenway and takes us into a world within our own, allowing the audience to reflect on how they interact with and benefit from natural cycles of change. Cost: FREE, donation welcome, limited spots available. Venue: Performance takes place outside, starting at the 400s block of the South Bethlehem Greenway and covers a 2-3 mile walk around Bethlehem. Rain date: September 20, 6pm.
• SUSTAINABILITY FORUM – September 19, 6p – At last year’s Sustainability Forum, high schoolers from across Bethlehem came together to share projects that would create a more sustainable community for all of us. This year, our students – as they continue to reflect on the massive changes in our world – take those big plans and bring them to the steps of City Hall, to make their voices heard. Cost: FREE, donation welcome. Venue: Outside on the steps of Bethlehem City Hall. Rain date: September 20, 6pm.
• ALOUD – September 26, Time TBA – An original project created by Touchstone/Moravian MFA student Adam Ercolani. LGBTQIA+ youth coming into their own identities often feel trapped and restrained by their surroundings and circumstance. How can artistic creation and performance allow us to process and understand our identities in a new way? An exploration of queer identity, self-discovery, and finding a way out of the bonds that hold us back. Cost: FREE, donation welcome. Venue: TBA. Rain date: September 26.
• HOMECOMING – October 2, 7p – A continuation of last year’s celebration of the history, struggles, and successes in the Black community of the Lehigh Valley, recognizing exceptional talent, drive, and leadership. In this year of the Black Lives Matter movement, protests, civil discourse and loss of great civil rights icons – a year where the names of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd are raised in voices across every state – we claim space and call for justice, recognizing that our history informs the present. Cost: FREE, donation welcome. Venue: Touchstone Parking Lot (321 E. 4^th St. Bethlehem, PA 18015). Rain date: October 3, 7pm.
• TALES OF HOPE AND RESISTANCE – October 9, 8p – From around the world, myths and fairy tales have always taught us how to triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. Touchstone in collaboration with Mock Turtle Marionette Theater presents retellings of traditional stories from the diverse cultural backgrounds of the Lehigh Valley, featuring live music and puppetry. Together, we look to the wisdom of the past to remind us that we are capable of overcoming adversity, now and always. Cost: Tickets by table: $40 for a 4-top, $30 for a 2-top. Venue: Touchstone Parking Lot (321 E. 4^th St. Bethlehem, PA 18015). Rain dates: October 10 and 11, 7pm.
• DICTATORS 4 DUMMIES… AND MORE! – October 16, 7p – An election season retrospective of original political satire. Ensemble Member Christopher Shorr presents a re-imagining of his 2018 musical, now a movie with larger-than-life characters played by action figures voiced by the original Dictators 4 Dummies cast. Plus: a live concert of satirical songs from the Touchstone archive. Join us for a comical evening… and a chilling reminder of the tenuous state of democracy. Cost: Tickets by table: $40 for a 4-top, $30 for a 2-top. Venue: Touchstone Parking Lot (321 E. 4^th St. Bethlehem, PA 18015). Rain dates: October 17 and 18, 7pm.

Funding for Festival UnBound is ongoing, but to date, Festival sponsors and supporters include: CADC Bethlehem, Discover Lehigh Valley, FIG Bethlehem, Freestone Productions, Kira Willey Productions LLC, PBS 39, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The Morning Call, RCN, WDIY, Webfoot Digital, and Working Dog Press.

Touchstone Theatre’s Festival UnBound takes place September 4-October 16, 2020, with performances taking place in the parking lot behind Touchstone Theatre and other locations throughout the city. More information at www.touchstone.org

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It would be a very dead place if the arts community wasn’t here.
Pamela Wallace of Crowded Kitchen Players

Followers know that Gadfly has been making a concerted effort to support the residential arts community — home-grown talent!

He’s hoping that local artists in various genres will see Gadfly as a place to publish their work and to discuss their work. Pass the word to others!

Mark your calendars for the first and second week of June for the next Touchstone presentations: June 2, 5, 9, 12.

FRESH VOICES 2020

Always fresh, sometimes provocative, never ordinary – Touchstone’s apprentice showcase returns for 2020! In light of recent events concerning public health and safety, these performances have been developed to take place remotely, and will feature both downloadable and streaming content from Touchstone Theatre apprentices Sean Patrick Cassidy and Adam Ercolani.

June 5 @ 7pm, streaming on YouTube Live
POTHOLE
Let’s go for a drive. The best conversations happen in your car. The best concerts do, too. 

DR. SOGOL’S MAGNIFICENT, MALFUNCTIONING, INTERGALACTIC, COSMIC CAR WASH AND STAMPS
A Quality Wash. Everytime. A completely customized and curated, compacted dose of “live” theatre.

June 2, 5, 9, 12, released at www.isonationpresents.com
ISO/NATION PRESENTS
A modern radio play for deep listeners of the Lehigh Valley and Beyond.

Fresh Voices 2020
Viewing/listening is FREE, and donations are gratefully accepted at bit.ly/FreshVoices2020

321 E. 4th St.

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

It would be a very dead place if the arts community wasn’t here.
Pamela Wallace of Crowded Kitchen Players

Followers know that Gadfly has been making a concerted effort to support the residential arts community — home-grown talent!

He’s hoping that local artists in various genres will see Gadfly as a place to publish their work and to discuss their work. Pass the word to others!

And he will call attention to local events and productions that showcase local artistic skills. Pass him the word!

Recently he called attention to Touchstone Theatre’s Young Playwrights’ Festival. 10 or so original works by our elementary school students. It was amazing — even more so because of the agility of the braintrust at Touchstone headquarters in moving this in-person experience online because of the coronavirus beast. It was — drum roll again — amazing. There were some 1200 online views of the Festival, and nearly $10,000 was raised. A special thanks to sponsor Peron Development too!

Mark your calendars for the first and second week of June for the next Touchstone presentations.

FRESH VOICES 2020

Always fresh, sometimes provocative, never ordinary – Touchstone’s apprentice showcase returns for 2020! In light of recent events concerning public health and safety, these performances have been developed to take place remotely, and will feature both downloadable and streaming content from Touchstone Theatre apprentices Sean Patrick Cassidy and Adam Ercolani.

June 5 @ 7pm, streaming on YouTube Live
POTHOLE
Let’s go for a drive. The best conversations happen in your car. The best concerts do, too. 

DR. SOGOL’S MAGNIFICENT, MALFUNCTIONING, INTERGALACTIC, COSMIC CAR WASH AND STAMPS
A Quality Wash. Everytime. A completely customized and curated, compacted dose of “live” theatre.

June 2, 5, 9, 12, released at www.isonationpresents.com
ISO/NATION PRESENTS
A modern radio play for deep listeners of the Lehigh Valley and Beyond.

Fresh Voices 2020
Viewing/listening is FREE, and donations are gratefully accepted at bit.ly/FreshVoices2020

321 E. 4th St.

Latest in a series of posts on the Arts in Bethlehem

Gadfly supports home-grown talent!

Please donate: the local arts community needs a solid financial base to thrive

Touchstone Theatre
Theatre that transforms

Proudly presenting
THE 15th ANNUAL
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS’ FESTIVAL
ONLINE!

WHEN: Saturday, May 9, 2020 @ 7pm
WHERE: Wherever you are!

YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS’ FESTIVAL ONLINE
May 9, 2020
Please donate!

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Don’t be bashful!

Gadfly still has 2 tickets he can’t use for the Sunday March 8, 2 pm performance. Free to someone who hasn’t been to Touchstone Theatre in exchange for at least a selfie that he can publish.

As a bonus, you can take a selfie with the Gadfly his very own self!

Edith Piaf: Hymn to Love

March 5-8, 2020
Thurs-Sat @ 8 p, Sun @ 2p

Teatro Potlach of Fara Sabina, Italy returns with a new reimagining of their Edith Piaf cabaret; the original production played to four sold-out houses on their first visit to Bethlehem! This new iteration, created in collaboration with Touchstone Theatre, will delve deeper into the chanteuse’s life and will feature live accompaniment from Touchstone Musical Director Jason Hedrington.

———–

Dave Howell, “To Piaf with ‘Love’ at Touchstone Theatre.” Bethlehem Press, March 4, 2020.

Edith Piaf may not be a household name in the United States, but she is an icon in her native France and legendary throughout Europe.

Her life was as tumultuous as that of Judy Garland and Billie Holiday, and she has been compared to them.

Piaf was vilified for her many, often scandalous, love affairs and glorified for her singing. She was unique in the emotion she poured into her songs, and in the way they reflected her life.

Touchstone Theatre
321 E. 4th St.

———–

Contact Gadfly via the Contact link here on Gadfly or at ejg1@lehigh.edu.